Intracellular Deposition (intracellular + deposition)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Diabetes: insulin resistance and derangements in lipid metabolism.

DIABETES/METABOLISM: RESEARCH AND REVIEWS, Issue 1 2005
Cure through intervention in fat transport, storage
Abstract We present multiple findings on derangements in lipid metabolism in type 2 diabetes. The increase in the intracellular deposition of triglycerides (TG) in muscles, liver and pancreas in subjects prone to diabetes is well documented and demonstrated to attenuate glucose metabolism by interfering with insulin signaling and insulin secretion. The obesity often associated with type 2 diabetes is mainly central, resulting in the overload of abdominal adipocytes with TG and reducing fat depot capacity to protect other tissues from utilizing a large proportion of dietary fat. In contrast to subcutaneous adipocytes, the central adipocytes exhibit a high rate of basal lipolysis and are highly sensitive to fat mobilizing hormones, but respond poorly to lipolysis restraining insulin. The enlarged visceral adipocytes are flooding the portal circulation with free fatty acids (FFA) at metabolically inappropriate time, when FFA should be oxidized, thus exposing nonadipose tissues to fat excess. This leads to ectopic TG accumulation in muscles, liver and pancreatic beta-cells, resulting in insulin resistance and beta-cell dysfunction. This situation, based on a large number of observations in humans and experimental animals, confirms that peripheral adipose tissue is closely regulated, performing a vital role of buffering fluxes of FFA in the circulation. The central adipose tissues tend to upset this balance by releasing large amounts of FFA. To reduce the excessive fat outflow from the abdominal depots and prevent the ectopic fat deposition it is important to decrease the volume of central fat stores or increase the peripheral fat stores. One possibility is to downregulate the activity of lipoprotein lipase, which is overexpressed in abdominal relatively to subcutaneous fat stores. This can be achieved by gastrointestinal bypass or gastroplasty, which decrease dietary fat absorption, or by direct means that include surgical removal of mesenteric fat. Indirect treatment consists of the compliant application of drastic lifestyle change comprising both diet and exercise and pharmacotherapy that reduces mesenteric fat mass and activity. The first step should be an attempt to effectively induce a lifestyle change. Next comes pharmacotherapy including acarbose, metformin, PPAR,, or PPAR,, agonists, statins and orlistat, estrogens in postmenopausal women or testosterone in men. Among surgical procedures, gastric bypass has been proven to produce beneficial results in advance of other surgical techniques, the evidence basis of which still needs strengthening. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


The neuropathogenic contributions of lysosomal dysfunction

JOURNAL OF NEUROCHEMISTRY, Issue 3 2002
Ben A. Bahr
Abstract Multiple lines of evidence implicate lysosomes in a variety of pathogenic events that produce neurodegeneration. Genetic mutations that cause specific enzyme deficiencies account for more than 40 lysosomal storage disorders. These mostly pre-adult diseases are associated with abnormal brain development and mental retardation. Such disorders are characterized by intracellular deposition and protein aggregation, events also found in age-related neurodegenerative diseases including (i) Alzheimer's disease and related tauopathies (ii) Lewy body disorders and synucleinopathies such as Parkinson's disease, and (iii) Huntington's disease and other polyglutamine expansion disorders. Of particular interest for this review is evidence that alterations to the lysosomal system contribute to protein deposits associated with different types of age-related neurodegeneration. Lysosomes are in fact highly susceptible to free radical oxidative stress in the aging brain, leading to the gradual loss of their processing capacity over the lifespan of an individual. Several studies point to this lysosomal disturbance as being involved in amyloidogenic processing, formation of paired helical filaments, and the aggregation of ,-synuclein and mutant huntingtin proteins. Most notably, experimentally induced lysosomal dysfunction, both in vitro and in vivo, recapitulates important pathological features of age-related diseases including the link between protein deposition and synaptic loss. [source]


Early pulmonary involvement in Niemann-Pick type B disease: Lung lavage is not useful

PEDIATRIC PULMONOLOGY, Issue 2 2005
Z.S. Uyan MD
Abstract Niemann-Pick disease (NPD) is a rare, autosomal-recessively inherited lipid storage disease which is characterized by intracellular deposition of sphingomyelin in various body tissues. The disease is heterogeneous and classified into six groups. Pulmonary parenchymal involvement may be a feature of several subtypes of NPD, including type B. Progressive pulmonary involvement in NPD type B is a major cause of morbidity and mortality. It is usually diagnosed at older ages. Only a few cases with early pulmonary involvement have been reported. In this report, a patient with NPD type B, hospitalized with the diagnosis of pneumonia at age 3 months, is presented. Following treatment for pneumonia, she continued to have persistent respiratory symptoms and became oxygen-dependent. High-resolution computed tomography of the chest revealed diffuse interstitial changes. During follow-up, the patient developed hepatosplenomegaly. Lung, liver, and bone marrow biopsies showed characteristic findings for NPD. Biochemical studies also confirmed the diagnosis, and the sphingomyelinase enzyme level of the patient was low. Unilateral lung lavage was performed in order to decrease lipid storage as a treatment modality. However, there was no clinical or radiological improvement. The patient died at age 15 months due to progressive respiratory failure. Pulmonary involvement is a rare entity in early childhood in patients with NPD type B, but should be considered in the differential diagnosis of persistent interstitial lung disease. It may cause progressive respiratory failure, but the treatment options remain limited. Pediatr Pulmonol. 2005; 40:169,172. © 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]


A recombinant multimeric immunoglobulin expressed in rice shows assembly-dependent subcellular localization in endosperm cells

PLANT BIOTECHNOLOGY JOURNAL, Issue 1 2005
Liz Nicholson
Summary To investigate the role of subunit assembly in the intracellular deposition of multimeric recombinant proteins, we expressed a partially humanized secretory immunoglobulin in rice endosperm cells and determined the subcellular locations of the assembled protein and its individual components. Transgenic rice plants expressing either individual subunits or all the subunits of the antibody were generated by particle bombardment, and protein localization was determined by immunoelectron microscopy. Assembly of the antibody was confirmed by immunoassay and coimmunoprecipitation. Immunolocalization experiments showed no evidence for secretion of the antibody or any of its components to the apoplast. Rather, the nonassembled light chain, heavy chain and secretory component accumulated predominantly within endoplasmic reticulum-derived protein bodies, while the assembled antibody, with antigen-binding function, accumulated specifically in protein storage vacuoles. These results show that the destination of a complex recombinant protein within the plant cell is influenced by its state of assembly. [source]